Classical Music

Harris Goldsmith writes in his note: "This 1948 version is almost completely without mishap. Indeed, there is ample reason to consider it the finest of the Maestro's achievements with this monumental Masterpiece [the Requiem]. The pacing resembles that of the November 23rd, 1940 performance in it's nobility and unhurried breadth.

On the occasion of the 200th birthday of Giuseppe Verdi, Teatro Regio de Parma and Unitel Classica have joined forces to create a truly unique project. All of the composer's 26 Operas, as well as the Requiem - which is closely related to the Operas - will be performed and audio visually recorded in and around Parma. For the first time ever, and just in time for the composer's 200th birthday, Verdi's Operatic oeuvre, which comprises the labor of more than 50 years, will be available in High Definition and Surround Sound and released on DVD and Blu-ray by C Major Entertainment. This unique project has been staged by Pier Alli and includes a 10 minute bonus feature with an introduction to the opera.

Classical Music

VERDI: Trouvere (Le) (Il Trovatore) (1857 Paris Version)

Verdi: Il Corsaro

The internationally renowned tenor Piotr Beczala celebrates the 200th anniversary of Giuseppe Verdi’s birth with a collection of highlights that include the roles in which he has for years been acclaimed on the world’s great operatic stages.

This new CD with Beczala and the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Lukas Borowicz goes one step further, however. For besides roles for which he is famous, such as the Duke in Rigoletto or Alfredo in La traviata (in which Beczala has enjoyed equal success at the Met, in Covent Garden and at the Bavarian State Opera), Beczala here offers rarities and arias that were ground-breaking at the time.

Thus he sings Radamès’s opening aria from Aïda, striking the exact balance necessary between the drama and the interiority of expression that makes this romance (and indeed the whole role) as charming as it is difficult. The same is true of the role of Manrico in Il trovatore. Beczala does not just sing his aria “Ah sì, ben mio” on this CD, but also his big scene with Azucena from the second part of the opera. His partner here is Ewa Podles, whose dark yet brilliant contralto voice offers a fascinating contrast to Beczala’s ever-radiant, well-focussed tenor. The recording closes with the friendship duet from Don Carlo, which Beczala crowns with a superb top C. Here, he is partnered by the baritone Mariusz Kwiecien as Posa, who thereby adds another beautiful vocal timbre to the recording.

In arias from Macbeth and Un ballo in maschera from the more melancholy side of the repertoire, Beczala utilizes to the full the possibilities they offer for subtle shadings. Since his spectacular debut at the Lindenoper in Berlin and a première at the Zurich Opera that was his home for many years, this Polish tenor has been virtually synonymous with the protagonist of Un ballo in maschera. Beczala changes genre for the “Ingemisco” from Verdi’s Requiem (unless one shares the opinion that this requiem mass is in fact Verdi’s best “opera”), in which he brings to expression the trajectory from humility to hope that is intrinsic to it. Variety is also guaranteed by the selection of tenor arias from rarely performed Verdi operas such as Les vêpres siciliennes and I Lombardi alla prima crociata, in which Piotr Beczala once again demonstrates the lissom elegance of his phrasing.

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

Also available on standard DVD

“The Tutto Verdi series, in its goal of being complete, makes it possible to not only hear but see performances of works one seldom encounters outside of Parma, such as Oberto; Alzira (in a 2012 concert version in Dobbiaco)and Attila...

One does not have to be a Verdi completist like me to find a lot to enjoy in Tutto Verdi. The rarities are worth knowing to expand your sense of the composer’s output. The seven operas with Nucci are fascinating on so many levels, not the least of which is that his younger colleagues respond to his work not by being in awe but by allowing themselves to dig deeper and bring their performances to a higher plain than they imagined they were capable of. What would Peppino say?” – Fred Plotkin, WQXR

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On the occasion of the 200th birthday of Giuseppe Verdi, the Teatro Regio di Parma and Unitel ClassiCa have joined forces to realize a truly unique project. Up to the Verdi anniversary year 2013, all of the composer’s 26 operas, as well as the Requiem – which is closely related to the operas – will be performed and audiovisually recorded in and around Parma. For the first time ever, and on time for the composer’s anniversary, Verdi’s operatic oeuvre, which comprises the labor of more than 50 years, will be available in high definition and surround sound.

Giuseppe Verdi was born in the little village of Le Roncole in the vicinity of Parma and – even though he celebrated his greatest triumphs in Milan, Venice, Naples, and other cities – spent the longest period of his life in seclusion close to Parma, until his death in Milan in 1901. Today, the region of Parma honors its one-time fellow citizen with the internationally acclaimed Verdi Festival organized by the Teatro Regio di Parma. Every year, Verdi’s masterworks are performed in the historical theaters of Parma and neighboring Busseto over 28 days in the fall. Raising these productions to the level of highly coveted events is the participation of world stars of bel canto such as Leo Nucci, Marcelo Álvarez, Renato Bruson, and Daniela Dessì, and conductors such as Yuri Temirkanov and Gianluigi Gelmetti.

The Teatro Regio was opened during Verdi’s lifetime, in 1829, as the Nuovo Teatro Ducale. It is regarded as one of the most important theaters in italy. Its audiences, in particular, enjoy a very special reputation for being one of the most critical in the world. Many singers report about the fears that gripped them while on the stage, and others about moments of bliss when they were acclaimed there. It is said that tenors who fail on the stage of the Regio are punished even by the porters of the hotels, who refuse to carry their luggage.

A production of Unitel in cooperation with Fondazione Teatro Regio di Parma.Giuseppe Verdi

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TUTTO VERDI – The Operas, Vol. 1 (1839-1846)
(9-blu-ray Box Set)

Oberto (Teatro Regio di Parma, 2007)
Un Giorno di Regno (Teatro Regio di Parma, 2010)
Nabucco (Teatro Regio di Parma, 2009)
I Lombardi (Teatro Regio di Parma, 2009)
Ernani (Teatro Regio di Parma, 2005)
I Due Foscari (Teatro Regio di Parma, 2009)
Giovanna D’Arco (Teatro Regio di Parma, 2008)
Alzira (Alto Adige Festival, 2012)
Attila (Teatro Regio di Parma, 2010)

Bonus:
- Introduction to each opera

Picture format: 1080i High Definition
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: Italian, English, German, French, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Japanese
Running time: 18 hours 41 mins (operas) + 1 hour 30 mins (bonus)
No. of Discs: 9

Greindl/Nordmo-Lovberg/de Luca/Herrmann/Hasslo/Chor des nordwestdeutschen Rundfunks Hamburg/Schuchter.

Classical Music

To celebrate Verdi's 200th birth anniversary Dynamic is featuring a fascinating collection of performances recorded during the best period of Maria Callas' artistic career. Some moments of the greatest poignancy can be listened in Forza del Destino and Ballo in Maschera where the American born Greek soprano's interpretative art is expressed with it's full beauty.

This 32-disc box set collection brings together 12 classic live Royal Opera performances – Tosca, Otello, Cosi fan Tutte, Madama Butterfly, Meistersinger, Don Giovanni and half a dozen more - spanning a period of over forty years, from 1955-97. The set includes many of the world’s greatest operatic performers of the era: Jon Vickers, Joan Sutherland, Janet Baker, Victoria de los Angeles, Cesare Siepi, Sena Jurinac, Boris Christoff, Tito Gobbi, Kiri Te Kanawa, Zinka Milanov and Franco Corelli, amongst others.

Classical Music

This trio of unforgettable Royal Opera productions feature some of the most cherished and admired examples of Verdi’s operatic genius. The composer returned to his early masterpiece Macbeth after the great successes Il trovatore and La traviata had propelled him to universal fame, and his 1865 revision – today the most popular version of the work – shares the marks of dramatic and musical innovation that enshrine all three operas as undying classics. Phyllida Lloyd stages Verdi’s setting of the Scottish play, featuring Simon Keenlyside’s athletic, brooding Thane opposite Liudmyla Monastyrska’s imperious Lady. Rivalry blazes between José Cura’s troubadour and Dmitri Hvorostovsky’s Count in an Elijah Moshinsky production with sets by noted film designer Dante Ferretti. Starring as the illfated courtesan Violetta in Richard Eyre’s classic production is Renée Fleming, loved by Joseph Calleja as Alfredo against the wishes of his unyielding father, played by Thomas Hampson. Verdi’s best-loved works brought vividly to life.

Verdi: Ernani (Recorded 1958)